The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 110: what you’re looking at

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THE MYSTERIES. | 95 | hearted wretch that could remain unmoved by the tears which thine own ill-treatment has provoked ! Knowest thou not what woman’s love is? It would prompé her to die for thee—to lay down her life to save thine or the lives of her children? She has her faults, her failings, and her caprices: but, ‘O man! pardon them—pardon them—for they are as nothing in comparison with her devotion, her affection, and her tenderness. As a grain of mus- tard seed is to the whole earth, so are woman’s foibles to her love! But you will point out bad wives— profligate daughters and sisters — aban- doned mothers? Alas—alas, it is true—too true: but ask thyself, O Man! who made them thus ?— who reduced those wretched creatures to what they are? The reply, if truly given, recoils with a crushing weight of terrible accusation upon thy- self! Fortis thow who hast worked all that in- fernal mischief. Take the vilest of the vile—the most loathsome of the loathsome forms of vice whose features bear the vivid impress of dissipa- tion and debauchery,—and trace this lost one’s his- tory of crime back to that moment when virgin innocence was wrecked in guilty enjoyment, and thou wilt hear a tale of fervent love on her part and eruel deception on that of the seducer! Yes— *tis thou, O Man! who art the most ruthless enemy and the most unrelenting oppressor of that sex to proclaim whose wrongs we have more than once ventured to wield our pen, feeble and inef- fectual though our championship may be! But let us resume the thread of our narrative. Foster, the ruined merchant, awoke unrefreshed from his slumbers ; and when his eyes fell upon the pale and care-worn countenances of those who were so dear to him, he endeavoured to smile his gratitude for the vigil which he saw they had been keeping. But, heavens! so full of vacancy and woe was his smile, that it told tuo plainly of a mind fast fading with the heart that was breaking within! Both wife and daughter beheld that terrible indica- tion of the mortal shock which he whom they adored had received : but they dared not look at each other, lest they should betray the agonising fears that were now uppermost in their mind. Mr. Foster rose—performed his toilette with a precision that was habitual, and therefore mechani- cal in the present instance—and descended to the breakfast-table. He endeavoured to appear tran- quil and composed: but the tremendous efforts which he thus made to conceal all that he felt, were only concentrating his emotions with a maddening effect. His wife and daughter implored him not to leave home that day: they dared not offer to ac- company him into the City—and they could not suffer him to repair thither alone. With a ghastly look, he murmured an assent to their prayer— adding in a low and hollow tone, “It would be use- less even if I were to go!” The morning wore away—heaven knows how! We cannot pause to conjecture all the feelings and emotions experienced during the few hours which followed the ceremony of sitting down to a brealkk- fast that was removed almost untasted. To attempt such a description would be to undertake the task of showing how human beings can live whole ages of pain and anguish in as many minutes: it would be to depict each throb of a pulse violent with the agitation of delirium—to note each tremor which passed through veins wherein lightning scemed to circulate—and to describe all the spectral shadows which rested upon souls goaded to despair ! As three o’clock in the afternoon drew nigh, Mr. Foster’s excitement became intolerable. He first began to pace the room with uneven steps, as if his brain were swimming round: then he wandered about the house like a restless spirit. His sorrowing wife and the equally afflicted Rose dared not follow him: they feared to increase the terrible irritability that was gaining so rapidly upon him, At length three o’clock struck;—and at that moment the ladies were in the parlour on the ground-floor—while Mr. Foster was moving about in the upper part of the house. The door of the parlour was open—and the two unhappy females sate listening in breathless silence: for every time the sounds of the merchant’s footsteps ceased ta be heard by them—if only for a few moments—a mortal terror seized upon them. And yet they dared not reveal to each other, even by a look, the dreadful apprehensions which they mutually felt. Presently—soon after the clock in the kitchen had struck thrice—Mr. Foster was heard to enter his dressing-room. His wife knew that he had pistols there; and, unable any longer to restrain her- self, she rushed from the parlour. Rose, animated with a poignant sympathy, hastened to follow her; —and the two ladies were hurrying up the stairs, when the report of fire-arms fell upon their ears. A scream burst from the lips of each: but still they ran--they flew to the dressing-room ! And there--great God! what a spectacle met their horrified vision! He whom they loved was no more. Stretched upon the carpet, with his head frightfully shattered, lay the desperate suicide; while the thin white smoke was curling in wreaths towards the ceiling--and the air was impregnated with the smell of the powder. With a piercing scream, Rose threw herself upon the corpse of her sire and gave way to all the an- guish of her indescribable grief. But the effect produced upon Mrs. Foster was different :--for a few moments—nay, for nearly a minute did she stand transfixed upon the threshold of the chamber —her eyes bent with an awful wildness upon the scene before her. Then, suddenly a rending— thrilling—penetrating shriek burst from her lips,— a lengthened vibration as the heart’s chords broke in twain; and she fell headlong—a lifeless corpse by the side of her husband. At this moment the servants entered the room; and Rose was borne away, in asenseless state, to her own chamber. But searcely had one of the domestics begun to administer restoratives to the unfortunate girl who had thus suddenly been made an orphan, when a loud double knock at the door called down the other dependant to answer the imperious summons. The arrival was Mr. Meagles, who came as the bearer of the money which was to satisfy the mer- chant’s claim upon the Prince. The Amazon had introduced the Marquis of Saint Croix to his Royal Highness’s private apartment at the very moment that the clock was striking one—and in less than a quarter of an hour the bond was signed and the cash paid down. But the Prince was so much pleased with the old French nobleman that he insisted upon his staying to partake of lunch; and when Tim COmiclbooks. cor 4